U.S. Backs Fla. Counterterrorism Database

System Developed By Boca Raton Company

POSTED: 6:13 a.m. EDT August 6, 2003

UPDATED: 12:05 p.m. EDT August 6, 2003

Authorities in Florida are creating
a counterterrorism database that will give law enforcement agencies around
the country a new tool to analyze billions of records about both criminals
and ordinary Americans, according to a Washington Post report
Wednesday.

The system, which is called Matrix or Multistate Anti-Terrorism
Information Exchange, reportedly allows investigators to find patterns and
links among people and events faster than ever before. It combines, police
records with commercially available collections of personal information
about most American adults, according to the Post.

The Florida system was developed by Seisint Inc., in Boca Raton,
Fla.

Some civil liberties groups fear the Matrix system will
dramatically lower the threshold for government snooping because other
systems don't allow searches of criminal and commercial records with such
ease or speed, the Post reported.

The state-level program is aided by federal funding and could
expand across the nation.

The Justice Department has provided $4 million to expand the Matrix
program nationally and will provide the computer network for information
sharing among the states, according to documents and interviews. The
Department of Homeland Security has pledged $8 million, state officials
said.

At least 135 police agencies in the state have signed up for the
Florida Department of Law Enforcement database service, which began
operation more than a year ago. At least a dozen states -- including
Pennsylvania, New York and Michigan -- said they want to add their
records.

Florida officials say the system will be used only by authorized
investigators under tight supervision.

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